Looking for a job: 85 percent have a new job within 8 months

Since 2004, the Swiss industry association for outplacement ACF (Swiss Association of Companies for Personal and Organizational Change) has been collecting key data on the reintegration into the labor market of job-seeking individuals served by ACF members in Switzerland. The current statistics cover data over four years from 2017 to 2020. The demand for professional advice and personalized services in the field of outplacement and newplacement, assements and coaching, not least to avoid wrong decisions in recruitment or promotions, has continued to grow over the past year. In 2020, ACF Switzerland's association members assisted almost 5,000 candidates, an increase of around 25 percent and a new high.

Markedly more people looking for jobs as a result of the Corona crisis

The experts at ACF Switzerland attribute the increase not least to the current difficult economic situation as a result of the Corona crisis with rising unemployment rates on the Swiss labor market. The assumption is that companies have taken the tougher conditions on the labor market into account and are taking their social responsibility towards their employees seriously and supporting them more generously. In particular, many specialists and managers are also losing their positions as a result of Corona. Particularly since the fall of 2020, ACF association members have therefore recorded a marked increase in corresponding consulting mandates. According to a survey conducted in November 2020 survey conducted among association members, the ACF expects the situation to worsen further and that hardly any industry will be spared in 2021. ACF therefore expects a second wave of redundancies in the winter half-year, although the extent is still uncertain.

Jobseekers over 50 also find a new job within around eight months

The average time to professional reintegration into the labor market increased in 2020 and averaged 8.18 months (2019: 7.31). Jobseekers over 50 also found a new job within eight months (2019: 7.14). Once again, the oft-repeated claim that people over 50 who are looking for a job are unlikely to find one is not true. Once again, more than four-fifths (84.94 %) of candidates mentored by ACF association members found a new challenge within two to eight months in 2020 (2019: 85.17 %). Or, to put it another way, the probability of finding a job again within 8 months or less is almost 85 percent when professional support is involved in the reintegration into the work process.

When looking for a job, the personal network is still the most important success factor

Personal networking, i.e. the active use of the personal network of contacts with friends, acquaintances and former professional colleagues, was again by far the most efficient way to find a new job in 2020. In almost half of the cases (45.43 %), job seekers used it to find their new job, slightly more than in the previous year (2019: 44.8 %). In second place were almost unchanged advertisements and the Internet with 31.32 % (2019: 31.4 %). Tending to decrease further compared to the previous year were search and recruitment agencies with 8.85 % (2019: 10.21 %), in-house implementation with 4.34 % (2019: 5.5 %), and the share of spontaneous applications also fell sharply to 4.33 % (2019: 5.46 %).

Corona crisis accelerates trends such as flexible working and digital skills

Meanwhile, the use of social media channels more than doubled to 5.63 % (2019: 2.6 %), reaching the highest level in the last four years. According to the experience of ACF's outplacement experts, social media can be effective when used in combination with other channels and as a means to an end. The abrupt change in the world of work in the wake of the Corona pandemic has accelerated trends such as flexible working, leadership accompanied by high emotional competence, and further training in digital skills.

As a result, demand for outplacement services has shifted toward programs with longer durations and individualized services. Of the nearly 5,000 candidates supported by ACF members, about 3,200 requested individual coaching last year, an increase of about 13 percent over the previous year (2019: about 2,800). There was also very marked growth in the number of group outplacements - i.e. programs in groups with forms of work ranging from short workshops to comprehensive support for restructuring in collaboration with the respective companies - which increased by around 33 percent to more than 1600 (2019: around 1200) and correspond to around 34% of the total outplacement programs. Also in 2020, about 40 % of the job seekers served by ACF were women, and just under 60 % were men.

Corona crisis affects specialists and managers in administrative and corporate headquarters

The experts at ACF attribute the increase in both individual and group programs to the fact that, above all, individual needs in consulting and support are to be taken into account not only for managing directors and executives, but also increasingly for specialists and, in general, for employees leaving the company.

The educational level of people looking for jobs continues to rise steadily over the period under review. Since 2018, most candidates have a university or polytechnic degree. In 2020, this proportion has risen to its highest level to date at 62.2 % (2019: 54.15 %), which is likely to continue to be related to the increasing share of consultations in the service sector versus the industrial sector. According to ACF experts, the high share in 2020 may indicate that the increasing restructuring plans in the wake of the Corona crisis have strongly influenced the central functions in administrative and corporate headquarters.

The service sector hired more candidates than it fired

Also in 2020, the majority of job seekers (46.44 %) came from the services sector (50.41 % in 2019), followed by the industrial sector, whose share grows from 37.91 % in 2019 to 42.98 % in 2020. According to the Outplacement Association, these figures indicate the increasing restructuring as a result of the Corona pandemic in the industrial sector, and there especially in the manufacturing industry. Also striking is the increase in the number of job seekers from administrative agencies to 6.21 % (2019: 4.98 %) and the decrease in those from non-profit organizations to 5.37 % (2019: 6.7 %).

Just under 10 percent took the plunge into self-employment

On the other hand, almost half of the candidates (49.04 %) found reemployment in the service sector (2019: 50.11 %), while 31.82 % were reemployed in the industrial sector (2019: 32.44 %). ACF Switzerland therefore assumes that the service sector hired more candidates than it laid off, while the industrial sector parted with more employees on balance. Slightly more hiring is also taking place in administrations at 5.82 % (2019: 5.47%), and only 1.4 % in non-profit organizations (2019: 2.96 %), the smallest figure so far in recent years. Self-employment, on the other hand, reached a new high of 9.92 % (2019: 9.02 %), meaning that almost one in ten candidates ventured into self-employment.

Source: ACF